It is 12 years today since Distributed Proofreaders started producing quality e-books. During this time more than 23,500 e-books were sent off to Project Gutenberg for the world to read. This calls for some celebration—and what would be a better way to celebrate than to read the books we produce? This is what the Smooothathon is all about. Smooothathon is short for Smooth Reading Marathon—the extra “o” is for the extra smoothness. Like a marathon, it is a challenge—not an individual challenge, but a community challenge: to collectively read as many books as possible. So, like the famous runner in ancient Greece who ran 42 kilometers from Marathon to Athens, the Smooothathon will run for 42 days, from the first of October till November the eleventh, inclusive. This means we are going to read for 42 days!
“How can I take part in the Smooothathon?” you ask? Well, that is easy: Just grab a book from the Smooth Reading Pool and read away. You can read any way you like—on your computer screen, on your e-reader or tablet, or printed on paper. You can read while relaxing with some tea or a cup of hot chocolate, while sitting in the sun on the last warm days of fall or the first warm days of spring—any way you like, any way you enjoy, since enjoyment is what it should be.
There surely are some interesting or fun books to read for you too. Usually there are about 60 to 70 books in the Smooth Reading Pool, covering a wide range of genres, from fiction to poetry to non-fiction, as well as a variety of languages. And new books are being added every day!
This sounds like fun but you are not a member of Distributed Proofreaders? You can join the Smooothathon as well—anyone can read the books in the Smooth Reading Pool. However, if you register with Distributed Proofreaders, you can tell us more easily which books you have read and take part in the Smooothathon discussion on the forum. And you can inform us of any possible errors you find in the books to get them fixed before they are posted to Project Gutenberg. (The Smooth Reading FAQ explains how this is done.)
So grab a book to join the fun, and enjoy the Smooothathon!
Posted by Gorok 
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